Daly, former fiancee trade court filings in libel lawsuit

LITTLE ROCK -- John Daly and his former fiancee are still trading court filings in a libel suit she brought against the golfer.

Shanae Chandler is suing Daly because of comments he allegedly made in 2001 to Sports Illustrated columnist Rick Reilly, who includes the quotes in his 2003 book, "Who's Your Caddy?"

In that book, Daly uses expletives when referring to Chandler. He is quoted as saying, "I had a buddy of mine from the FBI tailin' her for three weeks," adding that she "was cheatin' on me! She was lyin' to me! And I've got proof!"

Daly filed a motion to dismiss the suit, saying Arkansas courts don't have jurisdiction in the case because Daly is a resident of Tennessee. Chandler filed the suit April 21 in U.S. District Court of Eastern Arkansas.

In a court filing last month, Daly argued through his attorney, Bunny Bullock, that he is "a resident of Tennessee, not Arkansas; moreover, he does not have sufficient minimum contacts with the state of Arkansas to warrant this court's exercise of personal jurisdiction over him."

Daly, former winner of the British Open and PGA Championship, said he lives and votes in Tennessee. He is a native of Dardanelle, where he recently purchased a golf course and renamed it Lion's Den Golf Club.

The filing argued that Daly spends less than five percent of his time in Arkansas and proposed a transfer to the Western District of Tennessee, "where the defendant resides and where much of defendant's evidence and witnesses are located."

Chandler responded through a court filing May 30, which said Daly had been served with the complaint in Dardanelle and that "defendant cannot complain of this court's exercise of jurisdiction over him when served in Arkansas."

Chandler's filing also cited several factors that it said were evidence that Arkansas was the proper place to try the suit, including property assessments, Tennessee vehicle registration records that list his address as Dardanelle and excerpts from his 2006 book "John Daly: My Life In and Out of the Rough" that include references to Arkansas.

Daly filed a reply Wednesday, asking again that the case be dismissed or "at a minimum, his motion to transfer should be granted."